


Feline Fidelity

by jaskiersvalley (connorssock)



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cutagens | Cute Effects of Mutagens (The Witcher), De-aged Aiden, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutagens (The Witcher)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28837275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/jaskiersvalley
Summary: When Aiden gets hit with a spell that turns him into a toddler, Lambert does the only thing he can think of. He goes home for help.
Relationships: Aiden/Lambert (The Witcher)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 181





	Feline Fidelity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OhNoMyBreadsticks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhNoMyBreadsticks/gifts).



> This is for the incredible ohnomybreadsticks who pours so much love and effort into the fandom. It is time she got something in return.

The path up to Kaer Morhen was a bitch on a good year. With an excitable child in tow, Lambert was cursing up a storm. How witchers of old dragged child surprises up to the old keep was beyond Lambert, he had enough trouble with just Aiden who really ought to know better. But, it seemed that the spell had taken a firm root and worked not just on his body but mind too and Lambert was hurrying up the familiar path while clutching a toddler.

“Just keep still, we’re almost there!”

Aiden blew a raspberry at him and squirmed, almost getting dropped in the process which was met with an excited screech and little legs kicked at Lambert to demand another round of heartstopping terror. He could feel Aiden start to shiver and a soft rattle emanated from his chest.

“Oh no you don’t! Stop making that noise. Don’t break now!” Lambert was panicking just a little, he didn’t want to get back to Kaer Morhen early with nothing more than a broken heart and a story he would never want to share. 

Thankfully, they made it to the old keep and Lambert stomped into the hall, Aiden on his hips. He was relieved to find Vesemir in the kitchen and Eskel had already returned home for the winter too.

“Ah, Lambert!” Vesemir greeted and his eyes narrowed as he took in Aiden. “And a Child Surprise?”

Eskel’s gasp and disappointed look was cut off by Lambert’s grumblings. “Oh I was surprised alright. And Aiden is indeed a child now.”

“So not a Child Surprise?” Eskel ventured.

“No. This is a surprise child.” That was as clear as mud if Eskel and Vesemir’s expression was anything to go by. “This is Aiden my-” Deep breath, “-my friend. Or at least, he was until he pissed off a sorceress and she did this to him.”

He was also getting rather heavy and Lambert popped him down on the floor. Immediately, Aiden began to toddle towards Eskel, arms up in the universal motion of wishing to be picked up. When Eskel hesitated, Aiden’s lips wobbled, eyes going big and watery. To head off any crying, Eskel scooped him up, a little awkward in his hold. Thankfully Vesemir reached over to adjust his hands, making the situation a bit more comfortable for all. At least, it was until Aiden began to squirm, looking up at Eskel and reaching for his face. Turning away to hide his scars, Eskel tried to avoid the touch but a chubby little hand still reached and grabbed his nose. They stared at each other for a moment before Eskel let out a rather dismal “honk” at the touch and laughter bubbled up in Aiden. He smacked Eskel’s nose again expectantly.

“Honk.” Obedient to a fault, Eskel kept up his lacklustre honking every time Aiden grabbed his nose. Some of them were drowned out by the delighted giggles. It all came to a stop when Eskel winced and held Aiden a little further away. “Your child has claws.”

Immediately Vesemir was stepping closer, looking over Aiden curiously. “Claws, cat-like eyes, no scratches or scrapes from coming up the trail-”

“Hey!” Lambert interrupted indignantly. “You implying I couldn’t get a child up here without them getting injured?”

“Nobody could,” Vesemir shot back before turning back to Aiden. “Better reflexes than expected for his apparent age. I do believe we have a Kitten Witcher in our midst.”

As if to show his approval, Aiden let out a happy little yowl and squirmed violently. Eskel couldn’t hold him and, with a shout, dropped Aiden who tumbled towards the floor, only to land on his feet. It had Vesemir chuckling, especially when Aiden scurried towards Lambert who resolutely refused to pick him up.

“I am not dropping you.”

Big, wide eyes stared balefully up at him. Even worse there was a plaintive sniffle and a trilled “Bert?” which couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than Lambert’s name coming from a toddler’s mouth. Muttering under his breath Lambert leaned down and scooped Aiden up, missing the triumphant little grin.

There was no telling how long the curse would last. Aiden seemed quite content, all things considered. In fact, he seemed to be living his best life though that didn’t marry up with Lambert’s idea of what the best life entailed.

“Where is he?!” Lambert was tearing through the keep, looking under tables, behind doors, even squinting up into the rafters.

“What’s the matter?” Eskel was licking a bowl clean rather than washing up while Vesemir was baking.

Growling, Lambert ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I leave him alone just so I can take a shit in peace. He was on the bed, sleeping. I get back and he’s gone. Where the fuck is he?”

Aiden was nowhere to be found, not even when Eskel and Vesemir joined the search while the cookies were in the oven. Despairing, Lambert returned to his room to look under the bed, in the wardrobe and under all the covers. Sitting down heavily on the bed, he was ready to give up when there was a broken rattle in the room. It was such a familiar sound and one that filled Lambert with dread. Following the sound, he spotted Aiden curled up in the still warm ashes of the fire, thumb firmly in his mouth. That awful rattle sounded again.

“Oh no. Don’t break. Not now.” Lambert scooped up the ash coated toddler and held him at arm’s length. “Stop rattling. We’re getting you help.”

Marching out of the room and grumbling, Lambert hurried to the hot springs and dunked Aiden in, trying to get rid of all the ash that could have been harming him. The rattling stopped and was replaced by an unimpressed wail but Lambert didn’t care. He had stopped Aiden from doing that horrible noise which no doubt signalled a horrible end.

“It’s for your own good,” Lambert growled as he scrubbed ash from Aiden’s cheek. “You’ll appreciate it when you’re an adult again.”

What Lambert didn’t anticipate was for Aiden to slip from his arms and clamber out of the pool, making a run for it. A wet toddler was an oddly fast toddler and Lambert grumbled when Aiden ran straight to Vesemir and wrapped around his leg, glaring from the relative safety.

“I see you found him then.”

“And tried to give him a bath. He was asleep in the ashes from the fire.”

Chuckling, Vesemir leaned down and patted Aiden on the head. “You’re as bad as Lambert when he arrived. I can see why he likes you.”

Getting Aiden into clean clothes, Lambert brought him back to the kitchen just as Eskel set a plate of cookies on the table.

“Great timing! Come grab one.” As he spoke, he snagged one from the pile and bit into it with a sigh.

Eyeing up the still warm cookies, Aiden looked at them for a long moment before looking at the cookie in Eskel’s hand and glared and turned away, arms crossed over his chest in a sulk.

“What?” Eskel frowned. “The cookies not to your liking? Here.” He picked one up and held it for Aiden to take.

A small hand smacked it away and Aiden turned further from Eskel. Puzzled, the two witchers shared a look and Lambert tried too, offering a cookie to Aiden. He got hissed at for his efforts and Eskel’s nibbled at cookie was given another glare. Staring at the offending cookie, Lambert tried to figure out what the issue was.

“I think-” he said with a thoughtful scratch of his chin, “-someone is offended you took the cookie with the most chocolate chips.”

Hesitantly, Eskel picked up his cookie and held it up for Aiden who snatched it and in three bites had the whole thing crammed into his mouth. “I guess that answers it.”

Despite giving up his cookie, Eskel was still given a cold shoulder, Aiden only taking cookies from Lambert and ignoring any attempt to play with Eskel. It lasted until the moment Aiden fell asleep on top of the table he’d been sitting on and gorging himself on cookies.

“I guess this is called a cookie coma?” Eskel smiled softly as he took in the sight of Aiden curled around the half empty plate. When he tried to pull it away, he was met with a soft, snoring growl and tiny hands clutched at the plate. “Guess they’re all his now.”

The nap was followed by a rather interesting amount of running around. Aiden, for want of a better word, got the zoomies. He tore around the keep, clambering over furniture and pounced out from behind it onto Lambert. Even better, he tried to hide and hunt in secret.

“Oh no! I wonder where Aiden could be,” Lambert called, watching the two little feet sticking out from under a curtain. They shuffled around as Aiden aimed. “I cannot see him.”

There was a small giggle before Aiden jumped at Lambert with a roar. Tumbling down, Lambert ended up on his back, a triumphant toddler on his chest, little claws digging into his chest.

“The fierce cat has taken down a mighty wolf!” Eskel laughed and then yelped as Aiden launched at him. Catching him midair, he hoisted Aiden above his head to much squealing of delight. Walking around the room with Aiden high above his head, Eskel had to hold back his own laughs at how Aiden seemed to love it.

“He always did like high spots,” Lambert grumbled, only feeling a little jealous that he hadn’t thought to play that game with Aiden.

As though reading his mind, Aiden kicked and his squeals turned to whines until Eskel settled him back down. In an instant Aiden was by Lambert’s leg and making a nuisance of himself. Before Lambert could give in and pick him up, Aiden had hopped up and was using his sharp claws to climb up Lambert’s tight.

“Fuck!” Lambert howled and pulled Aiden off him. “Don’t do that! Fuck that hurt!”

“Fuck!” Aiden copied. “Fuck. Fuck. Bert. Fuck.”

Horrified, Lambert stared at Eskel who looked just as panicked. “No, don’t say that!”

“Fuck.”

Obviously Lambert was going to die a horrible death because that was when Vesemir stepped through the door and all he heard was Aiden swearing. He looked at his two pups and sighed in disappointment. “Fuck indeed.”

It was almost in slow motion that Lambert stepped forward, right as Aiden tried to climb up his leg again. The toddler collided with the foot and fell backwards, landing on his backside. The cry that went up was ear piercing and Lambert dropped to his knees, apologies falling from his lips. They went unheard and Aiden scrambled away from him, big fat tears rolling down his cheeks.

“I barely nudged you, I didn’t mean it, I swear.”

“Skel!” Aiden wailed and turned to Eskel, arms up. “Skel!”

As soon as he was up in Eskel’s arms, the crying stopped, the tears dried up, especially when a large hand stroked down his back. In the silence, Lambert huffed.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

It fell on deaf ears and Eskel adjusted Aiden so he was on his back, cradled like a baby. Aiden even had the audacity to coo and laugh as he batted at Eskel’s hair. Bitterly jealous, Lambert walked out, deciding he could chop some firewood and maybe get a bit of time to himself because looking after Aiden was turning into a full-time job. Whenever he saw Aiden in the coming hours, he was given the cold shoulder and each instance hurt just a little bit more.

Come afternoon, Lambert was ready to beg forgiveness in any way he could. He was miserable and also hurt that Aiden would choose Eskel over him. All the years they’d known each other, Aiden always picked Lambert, no matter what. It was what made him so special. Slinking into the library, Lambert watched as Eskel read silently while Aiden was asleep in his lap.

“Thank fuck you’re here,” Eskel whispered. “My leg’s gone numb and I’m busting for a piss. Take your child back, please.”

As smoothly as they could, Aiden was transferred into Lambert’s arms and the toddler snuggled in with a soft rattle. Immediately Lambert froze, not understanding why Aiden would make that noise so often around him. Obviously he hadn’t done so around the others, they would have said so otherwise. The only logical conclusion was that Lambert was bad for Aiden which was a thought that made Lambert ready to tear up. If it was better for Aiden to be with the others, he would give him up, keep his distance no matter how much it hurt. That resolve was only strengthened as Aiden blinked sleepily up at him and his whole body trembled with the force of the rattle.

“Come on you,” Lambert murmured and stood up. As he reached Vesemir’s room, Aiden stopped rattling but that wasn’t going to stop him from doing the right thing. He knocked on the door and held his breath.

“Come in.”

“I need you to take Aiden. I’m not good for him.” There, Lambert had said it as he stepped in and held Aiden out for Vesemir to take. Only, Aiden wasn’t being scooped up and held far away from him.

Vesemir looked at them with furrowed brows. “What makes you say that?”

It was painful to admit but Lambert had to. He had to own his failings, it was in Aiden’s best interest. “When I’m near him, he rattles. Not always. But it was so strong just now, I thought he’d vibrate apart.”

There were many things he expected but not a wide smile from Vesemir and a chuckle as he got up. Gently, Aiden was arranged back in Lambert’s arms.

“Is that so?” Vesemir sounded far too happy. “You causing trouble again?”

“There!” The rattle had started up again and Lambert looked over Aiden with worry. “You have to take him. He’s doing it again.”

Vesemir tickled Aiden under the chin and the rattle got louder. “There’s a good little man. You keep that up.” Stepping back, Vesemir looked at Lambert. “Kittens purr. It means he’s happy and he trusts you.”

“Oh.”

“Now, why don’t you take him for a nap. He looks like he could do with one.”

Lost in a daze of happiness, Lambert turned and walked towards his room, staring down at Aiden with disbelief. “I make you happy. You trust me.” As he settled Aiden down on the bed and curled protectively around him, Lambert whispered, “thank you.”

Waking up from a nap was never a nice thing and Lambert groaned. It was far too late in the day for it to have been a sensible idea. Something heavy was sprawled on his chest and, after a moment, his eyes popped wide open.

“Aiden!”

“Fuck off wolf,” came a very adult reply.

“You’re back!” Lambert laughed in relief.

“I was here all along. Now let me nap.” Determined to keep sleeping, Aiden burrowed against Lambert’s with a grumble, chest plastered against his back. If Lambert focused, he could feel a very soft vibration as Aiden purred and went back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> More idiocy on tumblr @jaskiersvalley


End file.
